After talking to Cass, Susan had spent the rest of the day down at the morgue with the forensic officers. With Cass' help, she told them what to look for, and very soon they reconstructed the fact that yes, it was a bite mark from sharp fangs. A great attempt at destroying the wound with a knife had been made, but now with the saliva, the managed to reconstruct the skin, and come up with distinct fang marks.

She had stayed down there with them all day, going through the files and cross checking records of all known recent vampire victims. The sample of the DNA from the vampire bite from Sophia Fawcett's file was an exact match to Rosmerta's. Finally, there was something going right. They had their man. Well, their vampire. Dennis Creevey.

It was with a great sigh of relief she told forensics that their work was now complete. The report was finalised (and filed, in triplicate, with a copy on Percy's desk). Now they could focus on the manhunt. Or vampire hunt. The file on Creevey wasn't all that huge, just that he had fled town after killing Sophia, and his brother had warded the place against him. Obviously the creature had not fled town completely. Susan wasn't sure how she felt about that, but obviously the man had been fully turned into a dark creature, and there was no redemption from such a fate.

Flicking through known photographs of the killer, it seemed hard to equate the happy, bubbly and smiling young man with a brutal killer, but it just showed that vampiric nature was obviously far too powerful. Bletchley had been, ironically, right to warn Rosmerta of the danger of courting vampires.

Findings on the Death of Madame Rosmerta:Cause of Death: massive and catastrophic blood loss. An Anti-ageing Potion was found in the blood, which prevented blood from clotting. Possible long term use of potion may have lead to this result.Wounds: The wound on her neck was surrounded with saliva. Upon investigation into suggestion that she had been socialising with vampires, the wound was found to be a vampire bite. The vampire obviously tried to hide this fact.Saliva: The saliva is an exact DNA match for that found on the body of Sophia Fawcett. Verified eyewitness reports have Dennis Creevey named as the murderer in that case, ergo he is the same killer in this case.Outcome: Search and apprehend Dennis Creevey, who as a dark creature is considered dangerous. Proceed with obvious caution.

There were just one or two more things she needed to do to close the case. The Three Broomsticks was no longer a crime scene, and she despatched a team to clean up the actual murder scene before handing it over to the next of kin. She had sent off an owl the week before to the man who had been named as Rosmerta's husband on that marriage certificate. He sent a return owl, wanting nothing at all to do with her, and that they could do what they wanted with her remains. What a heartless bastard.

That left little Liam Bletchley Vane as the next of kin. In other words, his father (at least until he turned of age). Susan snorted at the irony of it all as she wrote one final owl to Bletchley.

Mr Bletchley,

I wish to offer our humblest apologies for the way in which you were treated by officers of this department during the last couple of weeks. In our zealous attempts to find the perpetrator of the crime, we may have treated you out of turn. I apologise on behalf of myself to you, and to Miss Capper.

Having said that, the investigation has now been closed. A vampire named Dennis Creevey has been identified as her killer. As your son is her next of kin, we wish to release Madame Rosmerta's body over to you for burial.

Also, as her will clearly states that your son is to inherit her assets, the Three Broomsticks is now in his possession. I enclose a copy of her will, for your own legal team to peruse. The terms are quite clear, however, as you are to keep the pub running until he is of age. The property will be available for you to take over by the end of today.